Page 11 of Iron Crown

I tucked my Glock into my belt so I could wrap them in my arms as well, forcing myself into their daily unit.

I kissed my boy’s temple, then my wife’s lips. Then I did it again, and again, until Cillian let out a sweet, innocent giggle. I tickled him in the ribs, and he giggled louder, his toothy grin the most gorgeous sight I had ever seen.

“Thank God, you’re okay,” I said out loud, more to myself than them. “I just got you back. I cannot lose you again. I cannot!”

In a show of faith, or maybe it was love—God, Ihopedit was a sign of love—Cillian leaned his head against my shoulder, even as he held on to his mum.

I had never felt such fear and love. I had never thought such fright and relief could co-exist at once. The immense love threatened to suffocate me.

“My family,” I said, holding my son by the nape of his neck with one hand, and my wife with the other.

I looked at them both as they placed their foreheads together. Good God, I wanted to paint this. The two of them, so perfect and bright.

I kissed them both again, just because I could. Because they were here, breathing. That was enough. I could walk away from everything, so long as I had them.

“Nothing matters more than you two,” I whispered into my Muse’s hair, my nose in her wavy locks. I meant it with every fiber of my being.

“Is that true, Irish?” Jericho’s voice sent a shiver down my spine, cracking the little bit of heaven I’d been in.

The Russian leaned on the wall, picking dirt from his nails with a large knife. Fucking creep.

“You know it’s true, Russian git.”

“Then you cannot stay here. Neither you, nor your family.” His deep, flat voice made me bristle. That accent, which seemed to grow thicker each time he wanted to make a point, was like the breath of death on my skin.

Had I been a dog, the fur on the back of my neck would have stood up straight.

“Your home has been infiltrated.” He put the knife away, and it made an audibleschunkas it slipped into the sheath at his hip. “You will come to our house, and we will use your men to double the guards.”

Who was he to give me orders in my house?

“Absolutely not! I wouldn’t trust you to organize a piss up in a brewery, much less with my family.”

The corner of Jericho’s lip tilted up. Just one corner. “Do you trust your cousin, Dairo?”

I straightened. I trusted Dairo with my life. Everyone knew that.

“He lives at my house more than here, since my daughter chooses to spend her time with her family and not this…” He waved his hand around to indicate the house. “Not this creepy place.”

“Considering your gothic mansion, I don’t think you have the right to call anyone else’s abodecreepy,” I retorted, lifting a brow.

His house was a castle worthy of the crumbling House of Usher. Though, I supposed the foundation may be more stable, now that Aoibheann had breathed life into it.

Jericho pushed off the wall, taking one step towards us. I placed myself between him and my family, as if he was going to snatch them out of my grasp.

“Your house was just infiltrated. Burn it to the ground. It is no longer secure,Irish!”

“I won’t trust my family in your home,Russian!”

“But he’s right, Eoghan.” Aoibheann’s soft voice made us both swing our heads in her direction.

Her wide, green eyes stared at me with worry as she placed a slender hand on Kira’s shoulder.

Had she forgiven me for what I let happen to her? What my father had done to her? Aoibheann was not a woman who lied,even though she was certainly adept at keeping secrets. Her eyes never lied… even when she had been the cause of my father’s death. Her green eyes were a window to her intentions, and she was scaredformy family.

“It’s best if you all come with us. We consolidate assets, double the protection.” She looked between me and her husband, as she made promises she knew he would keep becauseshewas the one making them. “We can go to a safe house, hire extra security. The more protection around the child, the better. It’s no less than what I would want for our own.”

Her free hand went down to her belly. As if the child in her agreed, it kicked, her belly contorting and a visible footprint pressed out, then disappeared.

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